The Daedalus Design
by lyrainthedark
Summary: Sequel to The Icarus Factor. Three years later, Naraku and Kagome have taken steps toward bliss - but there is a price to be paid for returning to a future where the fires of industry burn, returning with a great and growing power...and the shikon no tama, burning in her blood...and the past, and its sins, still heavy on his soul... NOW COMPLETE.
1. Past

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**I.**

_Past_

As the light is made more beautiful by the shadows which bind and shape it, so too are those shadows made lovely by the light. In the world of steel and the smokes of industry which is the twenty first century, there are not many who know this very real truth, but of those who do there are two in particular who have learned it in each other.

One is Kagome, a miko, the guardian of an ancient artifact that has marked her life with trial and treasure beyond the dreams of most.

The other is Naraku, a youkai with the heart of a man, the enemy who has followed her all the years of her life, in one guise or another; a youkai, with the heart of a man, who is now her husband.


	2. Future

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**II.**

_Future_

It has been three years since Kagome returned to the _present_, since she was flung out of the past that had become a second home to her and into the arms of the least likely of suitors. She had known him as _Hojou_ for so long that it had taken time for her to adjust – to his new name, which she had known in another life; to his new face, which caught her at odd moments, awaking a terrible sense of danger in her.  
Terrible, because she loves him, and because all those moments are sharp to him, knives that not even her smiles can pull free.


	3. Present

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**III.**

_Present_

Tonight, the second anniversary of their wedding, is a night untouched by such accidental darkness. Kagome has grown used to his smirk, to his touch, to the red shadow of his eyes gleaming at her with lust and laughter. She has grown used to speaking a once-hated name with love and longing.

He takes her out to her favorite restaurant, and surprises her with her favorite wine and a pair of sapphire earrings, "_To match your eyes, lovely wife_."

She flushes, hears whispers and sighs from nearby tables – _how romantic_.

She thinks to herself, _if they only knew_, and then shivers when he turns smoldering eyes in her direction, hurries her along.

"I am far more interested in dessert than dinner, Kagome."


	4. Sentimental

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**IV.**

_Sentimental_

He does not call a taxi to bring them home; instead he takes her hand and leads her onward, steals kisses from her laughing mouth every few minutes, allows his fingers to tease the nape of her neck and the zipper at the back of her dress. They are walking along an old, familiar path, but Kagome does not recognize it until they have come to a concrete wall topped by a chain-link fence.

She stops and stares; there is still a crack in the wall from their encounter years before, a piece of the smooth surface broken away and showing the white, weather-beaten interior.

In another moment Naraku has pushed her up against the wall, where once he stole a first kiss from her, where once he had painted her with heat and gained her interest.


	5. Beginnings

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**V.**

_Beginnings_

"Naraku -"

As if they were teenagers again, he cut off her words with a kiss, heavy and hot.

"Here, Kagome. Here is where it began for you; for _us_. Here is where I tasted you for the first time and knew that a _first time _ could never be enough; here is where you saw the darkness you so desire, and, seeing it, began to chase its shadow. _My_ shadow."

She grins at his ego, and submits to his kiss, and then speaks low words against his lips.

"My beautiful, terrible, not-quite-a-man. Nothing will ever change you, will it?"

For a single moment he pulls away, and stares at her.

Another pair of eyes, unseen, do too.


	6. Soft

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**VI.**

_Soft_

"You do not see that _you_ have changed me, lovely wife? You answered all my desires with your _self_ – or what do you think the world would be by now?"

She silences _him_ with a kiss this time; she does not like to think of the terrible things in the past, or the terrible potential of the future. She loves him, but she is also his guardian; she knows she is the only thing that stands between him and his desires to reach out for the world and hold it tightly in the palm of his hand.

Naraku thinks his thoughts anyway, and savors the sweet spark her kiss ignites within him.

_You have gentled me, Kagome._

And the watching eyes slip away unnoticed into the night.


	7. Conjugal

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**VII.**

_Conjugal_

The wall is open ended, and with easy strength Naraku picks Kagome up and brings her around to the other side; it is dark, and there are trees and shrubbery enough to hide them from casual passers-by.

"I am going to do now what I wanted to do that night five years ago, lovely wife."

"You are?"

"Yes."

Sure and swift, his fingers slip beneath the hem of her dress and up along the sides of her body; he pulls away her panties, red silk to match her dress, and tucks them in his pocket. Kagome is already flushed a brilliant pink that he knows will cover her head to toe.

Naraku steps close, and kisses her again, and sets nimble fingers to work between her thighs.


	8. Hands

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**VIII.**

_Hands_

Kagome gasps, moans, and whimpers, but the sounds are swallowed by his kiss. Her body moves toward the pleasure he has taught her, undulates against his lean, muscled frame; her fingers tighten on his shoulders, and with one hand he holds her upright and steadies her.

With the other hand he guides her keenly and perfectly toward bliss. Their first night together, he made sure to learn all her favorite pleasures, all the places in her body that most intensely pleased her. Now he presses his lips against her throat and scrapes his teeth over the soft skin, squeezes his fingers tightly around the bundles of her nerves at her core and savors the wide O of her mouth as her climax overcomes her.


	9. Bliss

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**IX.**

_Bliss_

Naraku leans her back against the wall, reaches down and undoes the fastening of his trousers, pulls down his briefs enough that his erection is exposed. He slides the heat and the hardness through her lush, wet flesh – but only for a moment. In the next he is inside her, obeying the demands of her wriggling body, sliding easily and deeply into her grasping heat.

Kagome holds onto him tightly with both hands, wraps her legs around his hips and muffles her moans with his shoulder. He feels her teeth and the scrabbling of her nails at his back; he enjoys them, and the sighs and cries she is making despite her all attempts at silence.


	10. Exquisite

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**X.**

_Exquisite_

The pleasure that washes over them is ripe and sweet and perfect; Naraku smiles as Kagome wavers on her feet when he puts her down, and tries to cover her mouth to quiet her panting breath when another, less _amorous_ couple walks by on the other side of their wall. He leans close to her ear and whispers words that set her to shuddering again:

"Lovely wife, one of these days I am going to take you on the other side of this wall – or maybe on top of it. How will you hide then?"

She smiles when she has caught her breath.

"You're such a bad man."

"Always."


	11. Little

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XI.**

_Little_

They return home before midnight, and Kagome goes to check on their children before she even has her jacket off; the nurse is sleeping, and so are they, but she stands over her twin sons for a long minute, reaches down to brush a boisterous curl from Masaru's forehead, tucks Masashi in more firmly.

They have their father's eyes, both of them, and their father's curls – but Masaru is bouncy cheer, her very image in his smile, and Masashi is the quiet one, the thinker; Naraku's sharpness glitters in his glance. As yet, they are only two years old.

Kagome rests a hand against her waist, her belly; she wonders what her husband would think of another child.


	12. Unexpected

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**XII.**

_Unexpected_

The morning comes dim and cloudy; the scent of rain is thick and the sun flutters faint at the horizon, pulsing weakly from behind the fog. Kagome and Naraku go through the usual business of a weekday morning – breakfast for the boys, breakfast for themselves, the rituals of good morning and goodbye. Kagome spends the day working on her new manuscript; she is translating the old legends and stories – she is restoring gods and demons to former glories.

Naraku makes his way into the city, downtown to his high, windowed office.

Along the way he senses with the instincts of a predator that he is being followed; he feels eyes on his back, and a tingle of presence, of power, such as he has not felt in five hundred years.


	13. Warning

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XIII.**

_Warning_

Naraku lets loose a pulse of his own power – not miasma, but pure _jyaki_, dark intentions, evil purpose, the urge to spill blood and wallow in a glut of spent lives. _Evil_. So pure -

The feeling of his own energy surging around him brings back memories, and Naraku smiles even as he feels the watchful presence flee into the city, escaping the reach of his power. He considers flooding Tokyo with darkness, seeing what rises to surface - he is sure there will be a great rustling and flight, like birds that lift from the forest canopy when the panther is near.

_But that is as good as enticement to battle, and Kagome would not be pleased with me._

He lets the warning stand as it is – a warning.

He is not aware that he has attracted _other _attention.


	14. Assumption

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XIV.**

_Assumption_

An old man in traditional clothes with a long, bound tail of shining silver hair makes his way down the bustling, noisy streets of the city with one hand on a knobbly-headed stick which he uses for a cane, and the other clenched in a fist at his side. He keeps his eyes on the ground, but to an alert observer his whole posture is one of defensive wariness.

He is an old man, but he is a warrior, and today he has encountered the virulence of an aura which he though vanished five hundred years ago.

He is Inuyasha, and he has been waiting – but not for this.

_Not for this._


	15. Familiar

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XV.**

_Familiar_

While Inuyasha is waiting in the lobby of the building where the scent of _that power _ is strongest, he wonders if it has been long enough yet. If he will have his oldest ally, his best friend, back for one final battle.

It has been longer than he thought, but whether that is too long, or still not long enough – that, he will not be the one to say. The day passes slowly – the hours are long. He can hear the elevator music, the inane conversations of three dozen fools and a very few intelligent men; the scent of a certain kind of lust, the greed for power, is strong here.

And then the offices begin to empty, and he senses...he senses...

_You **are **here, Naraku. _


	16. Sinking

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**XVI.**

_Sinking_

The face of _Hojou_ has grown more like the face of Naraku with the passing years – but the two will never be quite the same. Naraku could not be _himself_ when he first met Kagome, and though she knows him now as he is, and though he wears his face for her when they are alone, the rest of the world that knows him knows only Hojou, who cannot change so much as to reflect Naraku's unearthly beauty.

Still, the resemblance to _both_ of his faces, both of his _lives_, is enough to spark Inuyasha's attention.

The hanyou remembers the face of the boy who courted the woman he once coveted for her soul and for herself – and he has never forgotten, could never forget, the face of the enemy that stole that brilliant soul from him the first time.


	17. Beggar

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**XVII.**

_Beggar_

After the morning's incident, Naraku is on high alert, all his senses extended and waiting, his power flowing free and wary as it has not done for centuries; since the great powers of the world vanished into hiding or death. Like a gold light in his awareness, he detects the flickering presence of his enemy – and when he sees the face, aged, so very human now, Naraku smiles a terrible smile and watches the hate and the anger brighten like flame in the amber of Inuyasha's eyes.

_That is all that left that marks you **other** now; and you are come like a beggar to my door, seeking a thing, a person you lost long ago...and who is now mine. Who has been, always, mine – beneath your nose, and you knew it not. _

"Have you come seeking me out to suffer, Inuyasha?"


	18. Premise

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XVIII.**

_Premise_

It is not that Naraku speaks – that does not shock Inuyasha. The tone of his voice is the same, the mocking edge so precise, so penetrating...but posture makes a lie of the threat in the words, and there is no preparation in Naraku's aura or intent for deadly battle.

"Follow me home, Inuyasha – or do you intend on causing a scene _here_?"

The walk is quiet; the friction between them is loud. Naraku's soul is on fire with anticipation; what he knows is coming will be a memory so poignant and perfect he intends to cherish it forever.

They come up the long drive to the front of the house. The doors and windows are open; yellow light streams out onto the path, and Inuyasha sees a woman moving inside.

His eyes go wide and dark and die.

_Kagome._


	19. Forgotten

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**XIX.**

_Forgotten_

She is happy – he can see it on her face, he can taste it in her scent, traveling out to him now on a breeze that washes numerous odors out of the house – the smells of her cooking, piquant and familiar, the smells of children – soft, fuzzy, unsettled. Her own unmistakable fragrance – but it is indelibly blended with that of the one who stands beside him now; his enemy...her lover. Her..._husband_. He was ignorant of the custom that tells him this, once – but now he knows the meaning of those matching, shining bands, and for the first time in a long time feels the burning of a horrible emotion.

_Jealousy. _

And then fear, conquering all else. She looks..._so happy._

_Was it that easy for her to forget?_


	20. Flashback

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XX.**

_Flashback_

All Inuyasha's feelings are open on his face for Naraku to peruse – the pain and the bittersweet memory; more bitter than sweet now, because one of the childish fears of his ancient past has come to life for him; _Hojou_, winning the girl – _his girl_ -

For a moment he has forgotten that he has the heart of an ageless youkai in a youthless, half-human body; for a moment he is so caught up in the curve of her check and that single, disobedient curl dancing at the nape of her neck that he almost starts forward, her name on his lips -

But he knows better than that – and because she is happy, because there is not a mark on her, not on her body, not on her soul -

_It is not **Hojou **that bothers me, it is Naraku. Naraku – how could you do it, Kagome?_


	21. Dissonance

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XXI.**

_Dissonance_

Inuyasha thinks he knows how – he thinks that the part of Naraku which is tame, which brought them here with civil words, which made the morning's strobing power a detectable warning and not a rout of darkness...he thinks that is _Kagome_. Her doing; her influence.

He is right – but he does not know about the dissonance that guides her, about the secret seeking within her breast, the compass that points always in the darkest direction. Inuyasha never knew Kagome; Inuyasha only knew _Kikyou's light_.

It is still a pain to him – but he knows that he must live with it, that he must turn away now.

He must accept that vengeance lies in the past; that whatever he achieved _then_, it was enough. Still – there is a question he wants answered.


	22. Surrender

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**XXII.**

_Surrender_

Inuyasha must accept that vengeance lies in the past; that whatever he achieved _then_, it was enough. Still – there is a question he wants answered.

"I did not come here to intrude on her life – to make her feel old pains fresh again. I came because of _you_ – Naraku."

The name falls flat from his tongue.

"You woke me this morning – your power, your _filth_ spreading through the city – but obviously you have lived here for some time, perhaps for all this time...and never before did I know you, encounter you, sense you – why?"

Naraku eyes him coldly, his eyes still gleaming; he shrugs, and as he speaks he lets his power filter free, less of an intrusion than the morning but still enough to sense...something, even now.


	23. Relish

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XXIII.**

_Relish_

"Someone, some_thing_ – it watches me. I am not concerned for my safety. I have power beyond your dreams, Inuyasha – even now."

Gold eyes flicker past him, peering once more into the house behind him.

"But Kagome -"

"Kagome has her own power; surely you do not think _I_ would forget that?"

A mocking smile, a mocking glance. The memory of a false victory, stirred and set bubbling within Inuyasha like banked coals.

"She _also_ possesses the _shikon no tama_. Still – now. I did not realize..."

"That so much time has passed? Yes. It has been three years since she returned from her _adventures_, Inuyasha. Three years, that she has been mine."


	24. Promise

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**XXIV.**

_Promise_

"There is someone -"

"Who has been waiting to see her?"

"Yes. He -"

"_He_?"

Venom.

"Yes. _He_ – her...son. Shippou."

"She has no sons but mine."

The lash hits true and _stings_. Inuyasha draws in one heavy breath, and shakes his head.

"That is not true, and she would tell you so; ask her, about the only promise she made before she was taken from us. Ask her, not about the ones she left behind, but the one she left looking forward, always forward. Forward to the future, Naraku. Forward to _her_."


	25. Reunion

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XXV.**

_Reunion_

Two intense, red eyes stare at Inuyasha. He is uncomfortable beneath their stare; he wants to get away from this place, with its portents of memory and despair, its impossible combinations of love and hate and silence. He wants to get away from the urge that is building in him to run to the door and call out to her – to banish the quavering of his old, aching voice and once more shout in the voice she would remember – _Kagome. Kagome! _

"Inuyasha!"

He has not made a sound, but she is answering him – _her_ voice has not changed.

Despite the pain he knows is coming, he basks in the sound and the moment; a single moment in which his heart is whole.


	26. Embrace

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XXVI.**

_Embrace_

Kagome is kind and quiet, more _grown up_ than Inuyasha remembers – but then, in his memory, she is always the girl who first saved him, the girl who fell in love with him, the girl who...disappeared.

_The girl who. _

"Kagome. Hello, Kagome."

Despite the fact that her husband is standing near, despite the fact that she knows he will not like it, she cannot help but throw herself into Inuyasha's arms.

He is old, but he is still hanyou; there is strength in him yet, enough to catch her and steady her and hold her, so tightly she can barely breathe.


	27. Temper

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XXVII.**

_Temper_

It is an embrace that lasts only a moment, but in that moment several things happen at once. Kagome feels warmth and happiness – but that is all. Inuyasha notices this, and though he is still pleased to see her, a part of his heart closes off its last particle of lingering hope forever.

Naraku, too, notices – there is no passion in her for Inuyasha like there is for him, there is only the same warmth she gives to anyone for whom she possesses the smallest fragment of caring.

In that, Naraku feels the greatest victory he has ever won; greater even than his life, continuing on this earth.


	28. Flow

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XXVIII.**

_Flow_

Inuyasha declines Kagome's invitation to stay for dinner; he does not decline to meet her the next day at a cafe in the city for tea. He cannot help wanting to be close to her, now that he has found her again – but he is not willing to stay near Naraku. Not even for her.

She does not ask if he would like to meet her sons.

Inuyasha makes his way back down the hill toward the city; Kagome watches his retreating back, her features pensive, her eyes overflowing with memory, memory and darkness.


	29. Master

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XXIX.**

_Master_

Languid in motion, wooden in expression, a single soulless man wanders the streets of Tokyo, waiting. The One who mounts him knows that the hour is late and the power of his opponent too great for such as this simple watcher.

_This is only an exploration, a seeking, for the spirits of divine and demonic power that come together in union, creating that greatest of powers, is surely well protected even in this latter age. _

The One who waits in the shadow of the Crossroads has no intention of stepping forward until He knows that he will succeed.

_Still...this body may prove an excellent test for the priestess' new defender; this hanyou, whose name is known to me._


	30. Goad

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**XXX.**

_Goad_

An inhuman voice winds it way past once human lips.

"Inuyasha...you should have stayed in seclusion, where you belong. Your history has no meaning now."

As night falls, the fires of summoning draw Him back to the source, back to the origin, back to the smell of whiskey and gunpowder and blood and citrus juices, back to the smoldering herbs and the chanting of the _Mambo_.

With one part of His manifold awareness, He sends chaos roaming outwards from the one whose soul was sacrificed.


	31. Proclivity

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XXXI.**

_Proclivity_

Chaos takes the form of questions, of hidden beings and secret powers slithering out of the shadows that have been their home for centuries. In the center of the city, the _smell_ of evil lingers; the taste of Naraku's power. It whets appetites that have lain dormant for an age; it sets up ripples and waves among all those whose preference is for the dark.

Chaos takes the form of one man, mortal in seeming but not in soul, who comes seeking the information his master has requested. His questions are not directed towards darkness, but the light to which it is bound.


	32. Ides

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**XXXII.**

_Ides_

It is the thirteenth of March; it is night, and dark, for tonight the moon has hushed its light and the stars are hidden behind a veil of black cloud. It is unnatural cloud; the weather has been too cold for thunder but there is lightning in the sky regardless.

The weather of the world is responding to dormant powers let loose; in the darkness afforded by the new moon, shadows and spirits and youkai of many kinds are voiding the contracts and promises they made long ago – to beings of power to hide them, to others of their own kind with greater power, for secrecy.

It is a night of ill omen, of murder and mayhem – but only in the city. At the edges, in the forests, in the place of peaceful power...

All remains quiet, until dawn breaches the cover of the world.


	33. Bond

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**XXXIII.**

_Bond_

The morning is hectic; Kagome wakes to the crying of her sons, goes to the kitchen and turns on the radio, puts on a pot of coffee – and then is glad, tremendously glad, that a chair is nearby as the news flashes on and terror assaults her ears.

"_A rash of killings across the city last night – believed to be the work of a group acting in concert with unknown motives – terror and blood – be advised, the following horrific images have been judged to be too graphic for some viewers -"_

Kagome stares ; she has seen horrors like these before.

Five hundred years ago, when youkai ruled the forests and the skies, the rivers and the seas.

Five hundred years ago...

"Naraku love, you aren't working the office today, are you?"

He senses her distress, and comes from the other room, discarding his tie and suit jacket as he crosses to her side.


	34. Tangled

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XXXIV.**

_Tangle_

Naraku shakes his head and focuses on his wife.

"Not any more; what bothers you, Kagome?"

And then he hears the news – what has _bothered_ her is clear to him, and he knows just as she does that the cause of what these vain reporters are talking about is...youkai. He wonders if it was his own power that caused this – he knew, even before he released his strength, that he might attract unwelcome attention...

He does not feel regret, and he does not feel fear – he feels _irritation_, that some _idiots_ have gone out and given in to base urges, garnering the attention of humans for the first time in centuries.

_What a mess; the fools! _


	35. Knot

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XXXV.**

_Knot_

There is a Gordian Knot of panic in Kagome's belly; she keeps her eyes on her sons and her hand wanders without her will, rests at her collarbone covering the _shikon no tama_ that hangs there, hidden beneath her shirt.

She has been half-fearful since the day she returned from the past; on a few past occasions she has met with youkai in Tokyo, but that was years ago and since the jewel was made whole and returned to her guardianship, no terrible things have come to pass.

The fear inside her warns that those _terrible things_ will soon be waiting at her doorstep.


	36. Sharp

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XXXVI.**

_Sharp_

Despite the trauma of the morning and the danger that it represents, Kagome goes out to meet Inuyasha as she planned, leaving her sons with Naraku; her heart beats more softly knowing that she is not leaving them with just their nurse.

The clouds that darkened the night still darken the day, and the air is chill and clammy; a drizzle that is barely more than fog fuzzes all the edges of the world into blurry intersections of color and shape and silence; for the first time in her memory, the streets of the city are dim and quiet, and she feels a tingle of power against senses she had thought she would never use again. It cuts at her, with an edge like a sword – but then she sees Inuyasha, waiting for her at the door of the cafe where they had promised to meet, and she smiles, and her worry fades away.


	37. Composed

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XXXVII.**

_Composed_

There has never been a time when Kagome was in Inuyasha's presence and did not feel protected; even when Kikyou stood between them, even when her heart thudded out its fear in sharp staccato, even when all hope seemed lost and the end of the world was a sword strike or an arrow away -

Even now, when all is changed and time has overwritten the smooth, youthful features she remembers; even now that lines have creased his face and white has dulled the greater part of the silver from his hair.

The feeling remains, like a familiar melody; one written long ago, titled before her time – but with variations that are hers alone, and precious.


	38. Suited

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XXXVIII.**

_Suited_

They begin conversation on inconsequential topics; lighthearted memories, the life story of Sango and Miroku, who Kagome has missed – the continuing trials of Shippou, as he grew up and gained strength, and wisdom...and the power and propensity for additional mischief.

It is the mention of Shippou that turns the talk to serious things, and they are deep in discussion about the possible causes of the chaos that was bred in the night just past.

"Kagome, you won't like the question but -"

"Did Naraku have anything to do with it?"

Inuyasha nods silently.  
"No, Inuyasha."

He says then a thing she never expected to hear; not from him.

"You are well suited for each other, Kagome – so much sweet light, and such sarcastic darkness."


	39. Nether

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XXXIX.**

_Nether_

"I don't like this, Inuyasha. Those fighting days – I thought they were passed, for him and for me. We have our sons now, and a good life...and..."

She turns her gaze to his face and focuses on those eyes, still so bright, so _other_.

"I am afraid, Inuyasha. I am afraid that Naraku will not resist temptation; I am afraid that my sons and I will suffer for the choice I made when I returned to this time, knowing who and what he was...and did not leave him. Did not confront and kill him. I love him, I do...but..."

"You should not be afraid of your own husband, Kagome. You deserve better."

"You misunderstand, Inuyasha. I am afraid _for _him; for his success if he seeks after evil...or his failure, even if he doesn't. What Hell is waiting for Naraku, Inuyasha?"


	40. Pubis

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XL.**

_Pubis_

Kagome shakes her head and stares down into the dregs of her tea.

He stays silent; there is no answer that will comfort her. A few minutes pass, and Inuyasha stirs, uncomfortable, feeling the aches of age that torment his bones – it is the morning after the new moon, and though his hair stays white now, all the other changes that once made him vulnerable now leave him with a worsening case of _mortality. _

Five hundred years is a long time; his flesh is ancient, and on the nights when the moon is dark there is no youki to support his aging organs, no demon-bred strength to assist his failing muscles.

Seeing that Kagome has finished her cup, he stands and stretches – his back, his hips, his pelvis – once broken, and now twice as painful – pays the bill, and then offers her his hand.


	41. Testis

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XLI.**

_Testis_

She will think forever afterwards that she should have known it was too good to be true.

As they are walking, the quiet of the city becomes more than quiet; the sky becomes darker than just a _rainy day_. They turn the corner of a main street onto the narrow, private drive that leads up out of the city and toward Kagome's home – and then a man is in front of them, halting them by his physical presence.

His limbs are contorted; the smells of strong tobacco and blood spill from him equally, and his features spasms from despair to a rictus grin and back.

Inuyasha scowls and stands straight. From the stick that he has been leaning on, he pulls a sword – Tetsusaiga, which transforms in his hands.

"Get back, Kagome."

She stands witness to his strength, youki swollen and penetrating and vital.


	42. Fundamental

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XLII.**

_Fundamental_

Kagome closes her eyes and lets the warmth wash over her, so familiar; Inuyasha's power. In the years since she has seen him last that power has grown and matured, has _ripened_; it carries the weight and presence that once she sensed from his brother, carries the essence of the hanyou she knew in the magnificence of his youth, and something more.

Inuyasha senses something of her awe, but it doesn't matter to him; not now. Now, he senses only the evil of his foe, the unnatural nature of this being who is neither youkai, nor human – who is not even hanyou, but something...else. Something distorted.

Kagome is near him, and she is his charge; she is his to protect.

_Even if it is only one last time._


	43. Pencil

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XLIII.**

_Pencil_

As Inuyasha steps into his battle stance, straightens his posture against the complaints of his groaning bones and tightens his control over his power, laughter spills from the twitching mouth of his opponent.

"Do you know who I am, creature? Whatever you are, you are no match for me!"

Grey threads of power, fine as pencil etching, fine as a spider's web, coalesce around the man's fingers, around his feet, around his throat and his shoulders.

A blistered, coagulate voice spills out of his mouth; a heavy presence descends even more thickly and settles in those strands of power, fattening them with malice.


	44. Musk

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XLIV.**

_Musk_

"Inuyasha, son of the Inu no Taisho, son of Izayoi, failed guardian of Kikyou, failed seeker after the _shikon no tama_, failed lover of the Second Priestess...Yes, I know you. Contend with this my servant, hanyou; you are no longer worthy to contend with me."

A musky odor rolls from the body of the mounted man; it is the odor of death and fields left fallow, the odor of spilled liquor and witch oil, marsh fire and madness. Inuyasha covers his nose with his left sleeve, and holds Tetsusaiga steady in his right hand.

Vainly, he wishes for the robe of the Fire Rat; for something to protect Kagome besides his own faltering strength.


	45. Orchid

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XLV.**

_Orchid_

Nothing is forthcoming; Inuyasha defies the somnolent properties of the odor that confronts him to swing Tetsusaiga in a great, slashing arc. Gold energy crackles from the blade like lightning, sweeps outward toward his opponent and then veers aside at the last moment.

Inuyasha stares, and tries again – again, his attack careens wildly away in the instant before it would strike his foe. He has never been confronted by a power like this before; it is so distracting that he does not notice _exactly_ what is happening to his attacks until it is almost too late.

The grey threads of power have redirected, not resisted; all the fury of Inuyasha's attacks rests above his enemy like a blooming flower, aimed in Kagome's direction.


	46. Porcelain

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XLVI.**

_Porcelain_

Kagome has gone white with fear; all her senses are tingling, telling her that this is a danger neither she nor Inuyasha is prepared for – telling her that something is wrong, wrong, _wrong_ with everything about this moment. The attacker, who speaks with a voice not his own; the ease with which Inuyasha's strength is handled and turned away.

She is lacking a bow, but she spent year mastering her power, learning the many manifestations that a miko's power can take. Now, she focuses, and when she sees that great blossom of power turning towards her, threatening her with Inuyasha's strength, she acts.

Pure energy, white and blinding, cascades from her her hands and speeds outward.


	47. Vanilla

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XLVII.**

_Vanilla_

Inuyasha flings himself three steps to the left, scenting the sweet rush of Kagome's power – floral, vanilla, honey – sharp in his nostrils and sharp on his tongue. In all the years that have passed, he has never once met a miko equal to her in strength...and now she proves herself again, unleashing a torrent, a flood of power.

But...

It does nothing. The man before them stands unaffected; the grey tendrils of possessing power fade out of existence, flickering for a brief moment – then they return, stronger, darker, more powerful – almost black, now, guiding the movements of the man in front of them like a puppet on badly handled strings.


	48. Avocado

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XLVIII.**

_Avocado_

Naraku is standing in Kagome's kitchen, working on a rare surprise: dinner, one of her favorite dishes and one of the few that she has difficulty making herself. Rashers of thick, apple wood smoked bacon are frying in a pan on the stove; a pair of chicken breasts are baking and he has just sliced the first avocado in half when _power_ hits him like a truck – suddenly, completely, and all over.

He knows that power – knows it _intimately. _

"Inuyasha...showing off won't help you now; nothing will."

For a few minutes, he contemplates various methods of killing the hanyou and hiding his body so that Kagome doesn't find out he did it -

And then a second wave of power hits him, a far more troubling one. It is _Kagome's_ – it is troubled and angry and frightened, and all those things awaken rage.


	49. Seminarius

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XLIX.**

_Seminarius_

The fruit in his hand becomes green pulp; methodically, carefully, Naraku wipes his hands and then goes the playroom, where the boys are occupied with their nurse.

"I am going out for a short while."

"Yes, Hojou-sama. Do you have a message for your wife, Hojou-sama, if she should return before you?"

"No. No message."

He fills his eyes with the sight of his sons, _Kagome's_ sons, and sweeps out of the room, and out of the house, and down toward the maelstrom of conflicting energies that are still swirling before his senses.

He tempers his rage, lets it flow but it keeps it hidden.

No one and nothing will defy the future he has finally secured for himself.


	50. Amazon

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**L.**

_Amazon_

Naraku arrives in the midst of a battle the likes of which the world has not seen for centuries. A presence glows around a single man, who confronts Inuyasha with the fury of the hanyou's own power. He sees Kagome standing back, her shoulders straight and her features firm, casting bolts of power like gorgeous, lavender lightning – but none of it has any effect. She has the strength and fury of an amazon, but her power is without influence and Naraku believes he knows why -

It is purifying power, holy power; it is meant to cleanse the world of demons and spirits.

Her opponent is a man, and though he is infected, infused with darkness...

Naraku senses, not _youki_, not _jyaki_, but something far more foul, and at the same time more pure.

He does not _know_, but he suspects – something _dangerous_.

* * *

A/N: Phew...halfway done my dears, halfway done...

Please Review!


	51. Firewood

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LI.**

_Firewood_

"Kagome! Kagome, go home; get away from here, now – do you understand?"

From his position just beyond the crackling energies of the battlefield, Naraku can see what Kagome cannot, and what Inuyasha has been fighting against with such difficulty: every single attack that comes from this strange opponent is directed at _her_.

Her power is useless against this foe; though she can, apparently, purify the power that controls the man they are facing, her momentary intervention is not enough – not nearly enough. Naraku can see Inuyasha struggling to hold back the swelling darkness – but he knows the hanyou will fail. Perhaps five hundred year ago, in the height of his strength and prowess, it would have been enough.

Now his flesh is failing him, succumbing to human frailness; his power burns through his blood like it is fuel for the flames and still, it is not enough.


	52. Groin

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LII.**

_Groin_

Inuyasha's growl grows great and terrible; the _Kaze no Kizu_ is without effect; his own power cast back at him cannot be returned to his enemy as the _Bakuryuha_. He thinks furiously – and then grins a savage grin that looks out of place on his face. Energy has had no effect – whatever power it is, controlling this opponent, it is greater than anything he has ever faced...but...

_What about a physical attack?_

He leaps forward without warning and drives his knee directly into the man's groin; in a flash, Inuyasha's fist moves up and delivers two sharp blows to his opponent's right temple; he feels the skull crack beneath his knuckles at the thinnest point, feels the soft tissues crushing inward, and then leaps back.


	53. Bulge

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LIII.**

_Bulge_

The man doubles over, but does not fall. When he stands again – and he does stand again – life has faded from his eyes; blood and brain matter are leaking down the right side of his face, and Inuyasha stares and feels his foreboding double and treble even as Naraku's power bulges and swells across from him, bathing the battle with familiar, ugly light.

_This fight cannot be won._

Inuyasha _knows_ it. He takes a deep breath – and then he does an unthinkable thing.

There is a sound like a shot, dull and ringing both; it is the _snap_ of breaking steel - the _crack_ of breaking bone.


	54. Just

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LIV.**

_Just_

Naraku stares at the sword because he does not understand. Kagome stares at the sword because she understands all too well. It was never _just a sword_ – and now Tetsusaiga lays discarded on the ground, the great fang broken in two pieces, all its power leaking away into the air.

There is a pulse, and then another, centered around Inuyasha. Gold energy flickers across his skin; his eyes turn dark, dark red. Jagged navy stripes fade into existence on his cheeks – and even as Kagome watches, Inuyasha becomes..._Inuyasha._

Not quite as youthful as her memories, still a far more recognizable figure than the old man she has so recently encountered, Inuyasha snarls, and turns his face toward his enemy, and begins to fight for the last time.


	55. Small

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LV.**

_Small_

It is hope that has made him do this – hope, that Naraku will take the chance this change will provide to take Kagome and run; hope, that the miracle of this transformation will be enough to save her. It is tiny, this hope – less than a candle flame in the darkness – but still it is enough to drive him forward. It is the last of his natural strength, the last of his ancient body's stamina that he uses to shatter his sword; he knows that whatever comes after _this_, he will not be a part of it.

He does not care. He has found Kagome, he has seen her again – she is happy in her chosen life, and if by his death he can ensure that happiness, he will.

_Kagome. I will protect you, Kagome._

_One, last time._

It is the only thought that remains once the Inu inside him has taken over; it is enough.


	56. Extra

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LVI.**

_Extra_

Sudden ferocity marks all of Inuyasha's attacks in his youkai state; his skin glows with power and there is _more_ in all his movements – more speed, more strength, more energy. The devastating potential of Tetsusaiga's attacks is lost to him, but those had not availed him anyway. The threads of power that move his foe are _cut_ by his claws, infused with glowing youki; the right arm of his opponent goes dead, and Inuyasha grips arm and shoulder and tears them apart.

A spray of gore paints his face; snarling, tasting blood and dark power, he strikes again, and again, and again.


	57. Double

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LVII.**

_Double_

Naraku is impressed, though he will never admit it. After five hundred years, the strength of the unleashed youkai lurking beneath Inuyasha's skin is incredible, but he is not interested in watching the battle unfold – he is not even interested in Inuyasha's victory or defeat. Either way, he knows the hanyou has doomed himself; there is no return to his natural shape with the seal on his blood broken – and if it that were not so, the stress of such a change would likely kill him.

His concern is for Kagome, who is staring with wide eyes at her _old friend_; Kagome, who has not moved, regardless of her own danger, regardless of blood spattered on her face and dress. She has seen a fight like this only once before; she knows the danger even though future consequences have not settled within her.

She sees double, past and present, blood and the barrage of power.

She does not move, even when Naraku crosses to her side and takes her arm to pull her away.


	58. Hippo

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LVIII.**

_Hippo_

Inuyasha unleashes power upon power, strength upon strength. The untapped fullness of his father's blood, the streaming scream of demonic energies – they bead on his skin like sweat and drip to the ground, scorching the pavement. They bubble in his hands and blossom into flowers of rancorous light, gilded crimson.

They spring outward from his claws and from his fangs, as he dives forward in complete abandon, ignoring the damage being done to him and the damage he is doing, until his claws are buried deep in vulnerable flesh; until his fangs meet in the rubbery tissue of the jugular, and the rage in his blood boils over, and into his foe.

* * *

A/N: A brief note; the prompt I used for this chapter, Hippo, led me to this quote which inspired the chapter...and a good deal of what is to come. "Behold the tomb of Hippo, whom in death/ Fate made an equal of the immortal gods." Supposedly, this quote was to be found on the ancient tomb of the philosopher Hippo as his chosen epitaph.


	59. Whale

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LIX.**

_Whale_

What remains, in the aftermath of the battle, is a dangerous cloud. Gargantuan in size, maleficent in power, the cloaking spirit, the presence that hovers over them, reinforces Naraku's first and worst perception of this foe.

_Some kind of kami, some kind of god. Some being neither human nor youkai; but it does not belong. Not here – this is a foreign power, one I do not know and have never encountered._

Only a holy being, however dark, could claim any kind of invulnerability to Kagome's power.

_She can purify the darkness; banish chaotic control, cleanse interfering influences. But her will cannot contest the divine; that is the **source** of all her strength and power._


	60. Large

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LX.**

_Large_

Something kindles in Naraku, as he comes to his conclusions and stares up at that power; he hears words, sinuous as smoke, and sees tendrils of coiling darkness approaching Kagome.

"_Woman...priestess. Give me your power; give me...what you protect._"

She takes one step back, and then another. A low growl rises to her left, and she sees Inuyasha stand out of the corner of her eye, sees him rend his own flesh and then send spinning, bloody blades of power outward, into the smoke.

As she has done so many times before, Kagome reaches down inside herself and finds her own power; she casts it outwards, watches the holy light blend and merge with Inuyasha's _youki_ and become something other; an enormous flickering of light, a shrieking wave, death condensed into cacophony and color.

* * *

A/N: Another ten chapters...forty pieces of this puzzle left...onward we go!

Please Review!


	61. Beast

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LXI.**

_Beast_

Nothing is left behind but the taste of tobacco and the scent of blood. Kagome stares for a moment at the space where their enemy had stood, and then turns to look at Inuyasha – Inuyasha, who is now on his knees.

He is dying; she sees that at once in his labored breathing, his slowing heartbeat, the uneven, fading flux of his great power. The blood within him will not retreat, and though it brought him the semblance of youth with its power it cannot truly heal the weariness of his body.

"Kagome – Kagome, I know he was your – _friend_, but we must flee from here. There will be police and all sorts of mayhem soon, and we do not know if this was the only enemy that should concern us."

With a darting motion, Kagome crosses the broken ground and falls to her knees by Inuyasha.


	62. Glorify

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LXII.**

_Glorify_

She wraps her arms around him, hears him breathe in a shocked, pained gasp and feels hot blood staining her shirt, her skin.

He stares at her with red eyes, unseeing, and speaks only two words.

"Kagome. Safe..."

"Yes, Inuyasha. I'm safe; I'm...you did _so well_, Inuyasha."

"Kagome!"

Naraku's voice is gaining in urgency. The sound of sirens and voices is clear to him, though she cannot hear them.

Leaving behind one chaste and anguished kiss, Kagome flees the terror with Naraku.

Breathing his last, Inuyasha remains; a beast that sees only the shape of her face, a beast who cannot deny..._her_.


	63. Depression

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LXIII.**

_Depression_

It is Shippou who finds Inuyasha's dying body; Shippou, who has come as fast as he can from fifty miles away, out in the country where has tried to make a life away from men. The red has faded from Inuyasha's eyes with the heartbeats that pump the blood from his body; Shippou comes close and lifts him, finds the hanyou's failing flesh to be light, far too light.

Inuyasha blinks slowly, lazily; like mist, words escape him with his dying breath – words Shippou finds shocking, and terrible, and impossible.

"Kagome..._Naraku_. You – protect -"

_There is nothing else; Shippou closes the eyes of his last companion._


	64. Slippery

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LXIV.**

_Slippery_

Shippou follows a cold and slimy trail of darkness; it is an aura-sensation that he had never believed he would experience again – not after the past and all its sacrifices. The night is growing dark, but he is not prepared for battle and he still has Inuyasha's body in his arms. He marks the location with his mind, the origin and end location for the slippery trail that Naraku left behind.

While the night remains dark, he returns to his house away from the city; he sets up the byre, and dresses Inuyasha in his ancient garments, and lights it with the flames of his own magic.

He watches until the dawn creeps close, and then he returns to the city.


	65. Irritant

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LXV.**

_Irritant_

The morning is stressed and silent. Kagome sits with her hands clutched around her tea cup, her eyes strained with memory. The nurse bustles in with the boys, who want their mother – but Kagome remains quiet even in their presence. In short order, a pair of milky smiles leave the room, followed by the nurse; not very many moments later, the kitchen door blew inwards, as if in a sharp wind, and it was made eminently clear to Naraku that yet more _irritating things _were bound his way.

"Naraku! Do not think to move -"

Naraku freezes – and a moment later, so does his unexpected foe.


	66. Chef

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LXVI.**

_Chef_

His only thought, speeding through the early dawn, is that he must protect Kagome from Naraku. From the power that had defied all their efforts for so many years...from the terrible things that he was sure to do to her.

The memory markers are clear to him, and the faint and fading scent of his foe, a tremor of familiar and terrifying power leads him back to the house, and inside to the kitchen.

He is speaking before his eyes have even sent the necessary messages to his brain – but when they arrive, his mouth flops open. He has surprised Naraku. He has surprised Naraku in an _apron_. A yellow apron...

Naraku, in a yellow apron, flipping pancakes.


	67. Flip

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LXVII.**

_Flip_

_Pancakes._

Aimlessly, the thought drifts through his mind seeking something to connect with.

_Naraku._

_Pancakes?_

Like magnets of opposing force, the two thoughts come together, collide, and repel; the foxfire burning at the tips of Shippou's fingers flares and focuses but does not release; he is just too surprised.

"Shippou? Shippou!"

The familiar voice comes at the same time as Naraku slowly raises his hands, eyeing the fire and readying the power to redirect it if necessary. Equally slowly, his latest pancake slides down the upturned pan in his hand and then flops onto the floor.

Shippou continues to stare, but even when words finally come to him they are nonsense.

"Naraku? _Pancakes_..."


	68. Mediate

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LXVIII.**

_Mediate_

It is Kagome who restores sense to the situation and stops the violence. The moment she steps between Shippou's fire and his intended target, the flames die away from his hands; she breathes a sigh of relief and smiles, takes his arm and pulls him to an empty seat at the table.

Her eyes have trouble taking him in – human in shape but unearthly in aspect, red-haired and green-eyed still but tall, now...and she can sense the tempering of his power, the tempering of time and experience.

It reminds her that five hundred years have passed between them – five hundred years for him that have been less than five, for her.


	69. Memory

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LXIX.**

_Memory_

Shippou stares at her, but once he has filled his eyes he can't keep them from sliding across the room to their old foe; there is consternation on Naraku's face, for this is the second time in as many days that his quiet and happy life has been interrupted by the shadows of _old times_.

But the Fox does his best to ignore the Spider, and Kagome smiles uneasily between both of them and listens carefully to Shippou's explanation.

"I found Inuyasha, dying; before he passed he gave me only your name, Kagome – and _his_...and the charge to _protect_. I would have done that any way, you being you – but when he said _Naraku_ -"

Kagome smiles tightly and shakes her head.

"Inuyasha made that same mistake. Perhaps...let us start from the beginning, Shippou."


	70. Brittle

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LXX.**

_Brittle_

Kagome pushes back her chair and walks over to stand by her husband. Shippou's eyes narrow suspiciously, but when she speaks he is all but struck dumb.

"Shippou, my husband: Hojou Akihiro. In another life, another age, you knew him as _Naraku_ – but that time is over and gone. He is good to me; he has been waiting for me, for the day when I would return to this era forever...and once it came -"

"He does not threaten you or harm you? He has not violated your soul, he has not _changed_ you to suit him, has not -"

"No. You ask more thorough questions than Inuyasha did, Shippou."

His voice grows gruff.

"Inuyasha only cared that you were _happy_. I want to know _how_. Kagome...do I not remember you as I well as I think I do? How can you belong to – this _thing_!"


	71. Frog

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LXXI.**

_Frog_

Naraku snarls, but says nothing.

Kagome stares, feels her heart thud painfully in her chest; she had been full of hope that Shippou might forgive, might understand – Shippou, who had no personal reason to hate Naraku.

Her eyes tell her that her hopes were too much. She speaks past a sudden obstruction in her throat and does not know how passionate her pleading sounds to ears that have longed for her voice.

"Shippou...Shippou, at first I did not know that the man I knew as Hojou was also Naraku; by the time he told me, it was too late. I had given up on Inuyasha; I had cut the strings that tied me heart-and-soul to the past. I could only love him...Hojou or Naraku, it didn't matter any more. Everything is different now, Shippou."


	72. Prince

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LXXII.**

_Prince_

Shippou stares at her and slowly, so slowly it is painful to watch, his features relax. What she says is true; everything is different now. Enemies are friends – or more than friends.

_And I, who was once like a child to her...now I am not._

She seems so young; younger than he remembers, though he knows it is only his own changed perspective that makes this so – and looking at her, he sees that she too has noticed. That she feels the same pang. Tears trickle onto her cheeks, and her murmur is faint but loud enough for youkai hearing.

"Shippou...you grew up, Shippou."

As he thinking how to comfort her, there is a patter of footsteps and an imperious, tiny voice.

"Mama? Who makes you cry, mama?"


	73. Watery

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LXXIII.**

_Watery_

Kagome turns a damp smile toward the voice of her son; the imperious tone and the lack of a wayward curl tells her that it is Masashi who has come to her rescue, but Masaru is not far behind his brother.

"Mama! Mama hurt?"

She holds out her arms for both of them, and they run toward her; too quickly perhaps, because their father cannot get out of the way. Naraku stumbles, but does not fall; the pan in his hand goes flying, but sheer luck sends it careening into the sink.

Shippou doesn't like _lucky_; the pan hits the faucet, and sends a great spray of water wildly spewing around the kitchen and all over him.


	74. Flaming

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LXXIV.**

_Flaming_

Being drenched is worth it, Shippou decides, when he looks up to see Kagome's laughter and not her tears; Naraku is shaking his head in a way that makes the Kitsune think that such things are not an unusual occurrence – but then Kagome was always a bit of a klutz and her children are bound to have inherited some of that...

_Her children._

He admits to a burning within himself, a tiny flame of jealousy that these, her blood-born children, will have her to raise them all the years of their lives -

But it dies as he listens to her speak, because her twin sons are not distracted by laughter from her tears; the reason why she was crying, they want to know...


	75. Charisma

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LXXV.**

_Charisma_

"A long time ago, I had another little boy – a Kitsune, not my son by birth, but my son because I chose him so and he chose me. If the world was a kinder place, I would have kept him with me and brought him home, and he would have been my son just like you two – an older brother for you both.

"But I could not bring him home; someday, when I tell you all about my adventures, you'll understand why...but for now, all I can say is that the kami would not allow it."

Masaru sits up on his mother's knee, and reaches one tiny hand to pat her cheek. Masashi scowls and turns to his father.

"Kami hurt Mama. Make _them_ hurt."

Shippou laughs faintly, and shakes his head.


	76. Abdomen

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LXXVI.**

_Abdomen_

Naraku consults with Kagome concerning her protection; while he does so, trying to convince her to stay home – to let _him_ stay home – to cancel every obligation in both their lives and go somewhere far away where she can be hidden from danger.

"I will not hide! I won't take the twins away from their lives, or let you throw away yours!"

"Kagome – the _shikon no tama_ is a draw to evil powers, you know this! You have always known this, and now that those powers have returned -"

"I'll fight them. I'll fight them as I've always fought them – only this time better, because I have you by my side."

"I won't allow it -"

One sharp fist impacts on his diaphragm and cuts off his words.

"It's not up to you, Naraku!"


	77. Adam

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LXXVII.**

_Adam_

Shippou snickered from his chair, and avoided a patented Naraku Death Glare with the facility he had learned in his youth. Instead, he turned his attention to the two boys, both of whom were giggling at their father's surprised discomfort.

"So you are...Masashi?"

"No! _I'm_ Masaru. _He's_ Masashi."

Masaru giggles as he speaks; Masashi lifts his chin and attempts to copy his father's expression. Shippou grins and leans back in his chair; now that he knows, attitude alone is enough to distinguish them from each other.

"If I didn't know Naraku from Adam I'd_ still_ know you were his son, Masashi. And you, Masaru...you remind me of your mother as she was when I first met her."


	78. Apple

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LXXVIII.**

_Apple_

They are a precocious pair, not only intelligent but inhuman. These twins are _hanyou_ – what remained of Naraku by the time that last battle was fought...it was nothing human. And Kagome...Kagome has always been the least human but most _humane_ mortal he has ever encountered; even now, after so long.

"Are you the one that used to be our brother?"

Masaru's question is guileless and curious and hopeful; Masashi watches closely as Shippou snags a piece of fruit from the basket at the center of the table. He takes a bite of the apple with his eye on the twins, and nods; an idea that is purely Kitsune wakes in him then, and he juggles the fruit from hand to hand, contemplating.

"You know, I may have grown up while Kagome was...away – but I can still be your brother. If you want, that is."


	79. Adorkable

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LXXIX.**

_Adorkable_

Kagome took Naraku's agreement as a done deal while he was busy trying to get his breath back; he was powerful man, but she was...surprisingly strong. There were a few moments quiet while they stared at each other, but then Kagome's attention was distracted by the quiet _pop_ and rush of air that accompanies Shippou's transformation.

She looks behind her and sees both her boys hanging off Shippou, one attached to each leg and pulling as seagull-Shippou, thoroughly more recognizable than the last time she remembers seeing him take a shape, attempts to fly up towards the ceiling.

She can see that his straining is all show, for the boys' sake; she grins and giggles and then laughs as Shippou plummets to the floor with a squawk and reverts to his former shape.

"Absolutely adorkable."

Shippou wrinkles his nose.

"Adorka-what? That's not even a real word!"

"Oh yes it is; you just...haven't heard it before!"


	80. Sexy

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LXXX.**

_Sexy_

Shippou shakes his head.

"Oh no – not this time. You forget – I know this era now."

Kagome snickers, knows she's been caught...and doesn't care. She is grateful for her sons, who have reassured their almost-brother; the suspicion in Shippou's glance...how painful! How...expected. She feels Naraku come up behind her and wrap his arms around her waist; his eyes, too, are on their sons, and he breathes a murmur close to her ear, so low that even Shippou cannot hear it.

"He is good with them; for that, I will forgive his earlier _protests_. Does this mean we have three sons now, lovely wife?"

His breath tickles her with warmth, and she nods just a little.

"Then you must give me a daughter next time, Kagome."

Arousal flickers in her; his hands on her hips seem suddenly hot, but she dampens the feeling and lets out a long breath.

"Later – _later_, I said. For now...what are we going to do about this _enemy_?"

She says the word hesitantly, hoping that one of them will offer her a magical solution.


	81. Face

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LXXXI.**

_Face_

At her question, Shippou looks up, suddenly alert; Naraku goes stiff and cold behind her.

"Yasu!"

Summoned by the sound of her name, the twins' nurse sweeps into the kitchen and takes in watery mess with wide-eyes, sees the twins pulling on an unfamiliar man, shaking the table and splashing syrup and coffee everywhere -

Suddenly she is quite glad that she is their nurse, and not their housekeeper.

"Take the boys back to the nursery."

"Yes, Hojou-sama."

Shippou waves goodbye as the two boys are escorted away with disconsolate faces. When they are out of the room, Naraku lifts his eyes to Shippou's green, suspicious gaze, and bites out short words.

"Kagome – a barrier, now."

She lifts a questioning eyebrow, but obeys; Naraku sits at the table and gestures for her to take her chair again.

"Now, we cannot be overheard except through force, which we will recognize."


	82. Rap

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LXXXII.**

_Rap_

Beyond their senses, He who watches them finds all His attempts at eavesdropping suddenly thwarted. He is not prepared for such defiance; it has been centuries since such a power confronted or compelled Him into action.

_The loss of my mortal servant – that was expected. Soon, with the coming of the darkness, I shall Mount another and ride my power to their detriment..._

Still, with unearthly powers He reaches out and raps against the barrier of Kagome's power; quietly, deftly, seeking weakness but not to attract her notice.

He reckons without her strength of will, without the honing and control of her power that she learned five hundred years ago, fighting an equal but opposite power of darkness.

In the first moment that He touches her barrier, she is aware.

* * *

A/N: Mmm...this chapter could've gone: "My name is Naraku/ and right now I'm in the mood/to go slap some little fool/and go beat some mighty dude/but it might be kinda rude/ just to leave you Kagome/so I'm gonna send this fox instead/cause for insults he must pay - hey I'm Naraku, yeah yeah...I'm Naraku." Isn't it wonderful that it didn't? ::snickers::

Please Review!


	83. Lips

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LXXXIII.**

_Lips_

"Naraku!"

Kagome's voice escapes in a hiss; her eyes narrow and she tightens her focus even as she speaks.

"Someone...is prying. I think -"

"Yes. I expected this."

He turns to Shippou and clenches his fists, feels anger flowing hot in him for the first time in ages. Words pass his lips and spark, dangerous.

"Kitsune – tell me what you know about this opponent."

"Nothing."

"_Nothing_?"

Shippou nods slowly.

"There are dens of youkai and hidden powers across the land; some in the cities, some in the mountains – more in secret caves and underground. Some of these I know, and some of them know me; rumors of dark powers or revolution pass through occasionally, but I have heard nothing in the last decade that would explain such an attack -"

Naraku cuts him off with more burning words.

"Then we _must_ _find_ _out what will_."


	84. Dubulge

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LXXXIV.**

_Dubulge_

An argument ensues that amounts to nothing more than a comparison of Shippou and Naraku's respective manhoods. Shippou insists that Naraku, having been an evil bastard, is uniquely qualified to seek out another, even more evil bastard. Naraku, irritated by claims that he cannot deny - except to assert the validity of his parent's marriage at the time of his conception – suggests that Shippou make use of contacts that he has already spoken of, and leave _his wife_ alone.

Kagome glares at both of them, waiting – until each of them says a near-unforgivable thing. From Shippou:

"How do you expect me to trust you – _you_? You've been waiting all this time...you married Kagome to keep her close; to keep the _shikon no tama_ close! You'll betray her the first chance you get!"

From Naraku:

"_Kitsune! _Who are _you _to speak to me so! You were merely pitied; once, long ago – you are _nothing_ now! A memory – a misfortune; mimic and mischief and nothing else!"

From Kagome, two sharp slaps – and then silence.

* * *

A/N: For those K-pop fans out there who may encounter this story...yes, I know what and who my prompt refers to. Blame Naqaashi, my braintwin, for this little nugget of glory :P

Please Review!


	85. Key

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LXXXV.**

_Key_

"Enough! From both of you! Naraku – you are my husband, and I love you, and you know that I trust you; Shippou, you are going to have to accept that, or not return here. Naraku, Shippou is the the son I lost, and I have missed him, and the sons I have born since last I saw him do not divide my love. Shippou, if you want to be their big brother – nothing would make me happier. But you _must let go _of the past."

She turns slightly to include her husband in her glare.

"Both of you. We have bigger problems now."

Slowly, stiffly, Shippou nods; Naraku scowls, but he too gives his assent.

That she is the one asking this of them – that she is the one who demands they work together – that is the key, the truth that makes it work.


	86. G

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LXXXVI.**

_G_

Shippou goes, finally, because there is no way he will get Naraku away from Kagome now; not now, that she has expressed her trust in him so clearly, so sharply.

He spends his day moving through the city at the speed of sound, bringing lines of his past into tangled connection with one another, drawing on the rumors that have reached all those he knows from the secret communities of youkai and spirit beings. Some of them are Japanese; others he reaches out to through phone and email, seeking across the world.

He asks after a power on the move, seeking a great light which has recently returned to the world; a power long thought vanished, of which rumors had once reached even the farthest shores. There are no answers in the East, only agreement that what he says is indeed the truth; such a power is moving. In Europe, there are rumors that darkness has passed like the wind through the many nations – in the Middle East, the same.


	87. Dragon

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LXXXVII.**

_Dragon_

From Africa, there comes a whisper – a whisper without a name, a whisper that has crossed the Atlantic from the sugar islands, the warm balmy beaches of the Caribbean, the clear green waters and clearer blue skies. There is only one message that returns an answer to Shippou's many queries; from the Lord of the Island, the Dragon Who Shakes The Earth With Fire.

That message does not quench Shippou's fear.

"Among those who know, the power of a single wish, unlimited in scope, or scale, in magnificence or malice – what a terrible and wonderful thing that has always been. To shape the world with such power; how tempting – how destructive. In the right hands, there is life in that power. In the wrong hands there is chaos, and darkness, and death."


	88. Live

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LXXXVIII.**

_Live_

There is name; a list of fearful titles.

"Met Kalfu, Carrefour, the Lord of the Crossroads; He Who Guards The Path; The One Who Passes All Dark Things – this is He who stands against you; this is He who sends his mounted servants in search of that which might aid Chaos, increasing his reign over all living things."

Shippou brings the message and his fears intact to Kagome's door; it is now barely sunset, and he has a plan – an idea – a purpose. The _shikon no tama – _not for the first time, he wishes he had never heard its name.

_But it brought me Kagome – and her, I will protect. _

In that moment, standing at her door, one hand raised to knock, he makes a decision for eternity; he takes up the mantle of Inuyasha's departed soul.


	89. Lies

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**LXXXIX.**

_Lies_

It is Naraku who opens the door – he stares at Shippou with eyes that are neither offended nor welcoming, but stands back and lets the Kitsune through the door. Kagome is in the nursery, but the tug of Shippou's power brings her out quickly and she listens to the message he has brought, the name of the enemy that is seeking her out, now, after all these peaceful years.

"And this is truth, Kitsune? This comes from one you trust?"

Shippou closes his eyes, because the question comes from Naraku; for him, it is lies asking about truth. If not for Kagome, he would have answered in anger, with taunting. Instead, he nods.

"This comes from the only source I have in that region; the only one I know who might be aware if such a foe were tormenting us."


	90. Hair

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XC.**

_Hair_

"This explains much – but to name the danger does not lessen it. Indeed, in this instance...knowing may be worse than not knowing."

Naraku speaks musingly, softly, feels Kagome's hand on his arm, hears her quiet questioning of his mysterious statement.

"You bear a divine power, Kagome; this foe...He too is divine in nature. Your strength will not avail you – this is not a battle you can win. But I...I and your Kitsune..."

He stands tall under the glow of fluorescent lights; Shippou stares hard at him, sees red highlights like ruby in Naraku's eyes, like blood in his curling hair – he nods once, and then turns to reach for the door.

* * *

A/N: Only ten chapters left...and possibly an epilogue :P Onward, yes?


	91. Cherie

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XCI.**

_Cherie_

The door blasts inward toward Shippou, becomes shredded wood and bits of metal hinge. Outside, a man with the lost look of the one they defeated not long ago is standing, arm outstretched; a mocking smile twists his lips; his eyes are rolled back, only the whites of his eyes showing.

Naraku takes three quick steps forward, even as that smile turns toward Kagome; as those lips part, letting words flow past them in a guttural torrent.

"Come close to me; be mine...be all mine, forsaking light for darkness, life for death, water for blood...ahh...come, be mine, _ma cherie_, be mine, bringing with you all your powers."

There is only stillness for a moment, and then Shippou is the first to recover, to step forward and face their foe, reaching out a hand to shove Naraku behind him.


	92. Charge

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XCII.**

_Charge_

Shippou grips Naraku's shoulder in one hand, and shouts into his face.

"I am her past! Her _past_ – **you**__are her future! You, and the sons she bore you, and the child she carries in her womb! Get her out of here, and her sons out of here; get her safe – then come back and help me kill this thing!

Stunned, Naraku allows the Kitsune to push him back; the sword that darts toward Shippou from their foe is light and ice and fury, an amalgam of energies that flows from nowhere and nothing. He _catches_ it; and lets the sharpness slide through his palms, cutting his hands. Blood wells up in the wounds, and overflows -

And becomes Foxfire, blue and dancing flames that rip back up along the offending blade at the speed of light. The rolled-back eyes narrow; there is a grunt of pain, a murmuring snarl of fury; Shippou only smiles, showing all his teeth.

_A divine enemy? _

"No problem!"


	93. Minho

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XCIII.**

_Minho_

Shippou steels himself against the pain, focuses on fury, on the darkness that sleeps, waiting, inside him.

"You chose the wrong enemies to fuck with; you chose the wrong woman to attack! You chose the wrong prize, the wrong treasure to steal; you chose the wrong day, the wrong hour – the wrong place, the wrong power...the wrong blood to spill, the wrong lives to try and take.

"You see Naraku, and you see me, and perhaps you think – ah, they were enemies once! I will stand between them and conquer! But I tell you that here and now there is one _brightness_ binding us together. There is one _goodness_ that will always mean _you_ are the enemy we choose to fight first."

That gravel voice answers him, laughing.

"The _shikon no tama _ will not avail -"

A vermilion flame is kindled deep in Shippou's green eyes.

"_Shikon no tama_? No. The precious gem that we protect is called _Kagome_ – and you _will _regret that you ever learned her name!"


	94. Hump

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XCIV.**

_Hump_

The blue fire burns as Shippou speaks. It splashes outward in gouts and gobs as his anger grows, cerulean in hue, hot enough to turn the sword he holds in his hands to brittle dust – hot enough to awaken unearthly screams of fury and panic, to sunder the threads of grey power that bind Met Kalfu to the one he Mounts.

The man's back contorts, twists, and bulges, the work of an unnatural puppet master now tangled in his own strings. Shippou's fire darts unerring toward that hump, and the odors of blistering flesh and boiling blood grow sharp in the air as something grey and thin and sharp unfolds from within the broken flesh and tumbles to the ground.

It is a solid figure, the spirit-shape of their foe enfleshed.

Shippou smiles to finally _see_ his enemy.


	95. Purplish

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XCV.**

_Purplish_

Poison begins to spread from the deflating tissues of the dead man's body; in a physical form that is both more and less than flesh, Met Kalfu, Lord of the Crossroads, stands to face those who defy his will: to claim the _shikon no tama _as His own; to brand His power forever on the soul of the world with a single wish. The toxin is dark, the color of a fresh bruise, the color of the edge of twilight's sky; an imperial color, rich beyond indigo. It crawls and grows; it creeps and seeks to consume the flare of Shippou's foxfire.

Across the darkness there is a sudden streak of lavender and Shippou tastes the weight of light that is Kagome's power – but it has no effect on their foe. Her presence strengthens him, but he hears her coughing, feels the burn even in his own lungs.

Then, swelling from behind him, familiar and terrible -

_Miasma!_

* * *

__A/N: Only five chapters left my dears my dears...onward, yes? I think so.

Please Review!


	96. Chapter 96

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XCVI.**

_Bling_

Impelled with the power of five hundred years and the awakened, possessive nature of Naraku's soul, miasma flows like water to fill in every place. It is the most potent demonic poison still remaining in the world; it moves like a river, leaving Kagome standing alone on an island of pure ground.

Nothing divine that still seeks darkness can stand up to Naraku's miasma; even the Lord of Chaos cannot conquer. The miasma overwhelms the sharp, folded shape of Met Kalfu, and He rears up, clicking, flickering, darting, terrible as the tempest.

"Now, Kagome!"

Her arrow gathers light and darkness to itself, turns the poisons into a fall of crystal, fine and sparkling as diamonds, as snow. White light fades on impact with the matte grey surface of their foe's body, and Shippou breathes deeply of clean air and steps forward with Naraku beside him.


	97. Chapter 97

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XCVII.**

_Hubris_

What follows settles swiftly into legend; a battle of powers and portents the likes of which the world had not seen in ages. Miasma flows again - swift, impenetrable, thick; Naraku sends tentacles of flesh and power shaped into blades of burning light after their foe. Blue fire burns in Shippou's hands, roars outward in a swelling, crested wave.

Indigo and darkness, aquamarine and cerulean, two powers flow together, mimicking the whirlwind. Met Kalfu stands before their fury, as the mountain stands before the storm; He is not untouched, but He is more than these demonic powers.

"Not enough...not enough, fools! Who can stand against Chaos; who can stand against a God?

"I!"

"And _I_."

Shippou's voice is strong and clear; Naraku's words are thick with passion.


	98. Chapter 98

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XCVIII.**

_Portent_

Met Kalfu should know, when they stand strong and speak against Him, that not all is as He wishes it. He should know that here, far from His homeland, far from His worshipers and His holy ground, His power is less than the power of these who face Him. He should know that to be youkai is to be both more and less than the gods; that in Japan, in ancient Nihon - since the days when this land was Yamato and before, when it was nameless -

Youkai have stood against the divine and the deadly, the hellish and the heavenly, both in equal measure, with equal purpose and power. The three who stand against him, two demon, one human, are a portent of his destruction; they stand between his past and his future, which will not now ever come to be.


	99. Chapter 99

_- __Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**XCIX.**

_Decision_

Naraku and Shippou together tried again to convince Kagome to leave the battlefield, but she would not go. She had made up her mind; she would not risk leading this _thing_ back to her boys, nor would she leave anyone else she loved behind. Not her husband, and not her first son.

"I know what to do, Naraku. I know what to do – please -"

He could not deny her; there was no time.

The red light of Naraku's eyes, the twisting of his amalgamated flesh, the blue burning of foxfire and the screaming purity of Kagome's holy light –

They became one thing, one terrible weapon of impossible power.

Of Met Kalfu, there was only a garbled screech, and dust.

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**C.**


	100. Chapter 100

_- Drabble Collection: The Daedalus Design _-

**C.**

_Tomorrow_

Of Met Kalfu, what was left was only a garbled screech, and dust. The marks of the battle were something else, but considering the mess that the city had been for the past few days it would be a while before there was any response.

"_Hey, Kagome, d'ya mind if I come stay with you for a while?"_

It was becoming clear to police and investigators that the damage being done was not being done by any power with which they were familiar.

"_I was going to ask if you wanted to, Shippou."_

The meddling of one foreign god had stirred dark powers to life, and now humans and youkai were once more becoming aware of each other -

"_Don't I get any say in this?"_

But those were worries for tomorrow, not today.

_Naraku's answer came as a unified "No!"._

Today was for relief, and celebration.

* * *

A/N: Merry Christmas, dears...this fic be finished. The journey be through. The end be here. ::salutes::

Please Review!


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